The Hindu : New Delhi News : Creating awareness about censorship issues

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 24, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

Creating awareness about censorship issues

These are conversations about the "free" world. Fighting for space on "reel", documentary filmmakers, writers and journalists had come together to talk about "free speech" and "fearless listening" or the lack of it in South Asia.

The three-day event in the Capital, meant to explore the whole gamut of expression from those who choose to stay close to reality to those who move away, had been organised by Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia as well as Films for Freedom and the Delhi Film Archive. Bringing people from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Pakistan and even Kathmandu, the idea of the round-table was to talk about the politics of blanking out words and images by those who find little help from governments or even corporates for their stories.

While the event was a platform to share experiences, it was not all about endless speeches and discussions.

With screening of films, too, the event was expected to create awareness about censorship issues that had been restricted to the "intellectual" realm till now. The event, which took off on Tuesday, brought together speakers with first hand experience of the censorship web. -- Mandira Nayar

-- Mandira Nayar

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